


Eye Spy Secrets

by FawnoftheWoods



Series: Not Alone Anymore [7]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 12:05:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13880502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FawnoftheWoods/pseuds/FawnoftheWoods
Summary: An incident gives Clint a better look at his teammates.  He's known for seeing more than others, but even he couldn't see through all the layers these amazing individuals cloth themselves in.





	Eye Spy Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> Notice that despite when this story was written it takes place before To Make Friends Takes Little Steps

Clint groaned as he heard the beeping.  That sound meant he was in medical.  He hated being in medical.  

Thinking back, he tried to reconstruct what had sent him to medical so he could be sure to kill it in a most repetition-discouraging fashion.

The fight hadn’t been anything terribly spectacular.  Some crazy dude was performing magic tricks in the park that had resulted in several agents freaking out.  A sniper team had finally been called in and Clint had been up on the roster.

Plus, Tony and Bruce had been downtown for some scientific meeting thing Pepper had badgered them into and they had attempted to drag along the rest of the group.  Natasha had escaped by being Natasha and stating she was not coming and the next individual who asked would be the victim of repeated bad luck.  This had been how she had escaped the prank war too.  Clint still shuddered at that outcome.

Steve had not been as good at evading the scientists.  Thor had a visit with Jane already scheduled and seemed genuinely sorry for that.  

Clint had leaped at the chance to be a sniper instead of making social nice with a bunch of science investor types.  He had amused himself with the idea that he still ended up in the park area.

The mission had gone pretty standard with a setup team priming the target and Clint positioned to take him out.  The problem had been, as he had taken the shot, the magician had vanished in a wave of sparkly puffs.  These puffs had shot forward to hit a good dozen people in the near area.  Clint hadn’t been able to dodge the damn things.

Now here he was in medical.  He hated medical!

He heard swearing to his right that drew his attention sharply.  He opened his eyes, only to close them as a headache of epic proportions hit him.  Swallowing a groan, he sat up, because if Tony was in medical, he had to be seriously hurt.

* * *

Steve sighed as Tony sputtered awake with all verbal thrusters working.  Both Clint and Tony had been hit by the glittering gas puffs that had shot from the wizard.  It had aimed at Bruce, but Tony had shoved the scientist out of the way and caught it himself.  Although on some level Steve was glad to not have to deal with Hulk in a crowded business meeting of scientists, he knew that hadn’t been Tony’s motivation.  The self-sacrificing billionaire was very close to his “science bro” and would protect him when possible.

He sighed as Tony sat up, shaking off whatever had knocked him out, and looked around frowning.  “Easy Tony.  You’re not leaving medical until Bruce, at least, okays you.”  Before Tony could protest, Steve leaned backwards out the door and looked down the hall for the physicist.

“Think again, Rogers.  I’m blowing this popsicle stand!”  Steve turned back in time for Tony to plow into him as he attempted to brush past him.  He huffed as stayed put, since the rude maneuver wouldn’t work well on someone with his bulk.

“Really Tony?  He’s on his way already!”  Steve gently nudged him back towards the bed.  Tony had the strangest look on his face.  Although Steve tried to be gentle, the man still tripped as he sat down hard on the bed.  Steve hid a wince.  He had been doing so well in controlling his strength.  It had been months since he had used more than he intended.  Darn it!

Tony didn’t complain, or tease him thankfully, as Steve expected.  Instead he simply crossed his arms and shut his eyes.  Steve rolled _his_ eyes at the childish behavior as Bruce scurried in.

“Tony, good you’re awake.  How do you feel?  Anything out of the ordinary?”

Tony raised an eyebrow at Bruce.  “I’m always extraordinary, Brucie.  You know that!”  Steve withheld a chuckle, not wanting to encourage the obstinate patient as his ears picked up another person shakily walking towards them.  He assumed another patient had decided to get up and wander off.

Intent on returning yet another patient to their bed, he leaned back into the corridor to see Clint waver alarmingly.  Quickly he rushed forward and gripped the man under his arms.  Clint gripped his arm tightly, gasping for breath.

“Tony?  Is he okay?”

Steve sighed, “He’s okay.  The rest of us may have high blood pressure before we let him go, but he seems perfectly capable of arguing with Bruce.”

Clint frowned and shook his head.  “No, no that can’t be right.”

Steve frowned as he tried to help the clearly distraught archer back to his own cot.  Clint fought the change in direction, dedicated to going towards Tony.  Finally Steve gave up and huffed in exasperation as they headed for the grumbling engineer.  At least he knew both were doing okay if they were complaining.

“I’m a bit shaky, but I’m okay.”  Steve glanced at Clint and shot him a wry smile.

“Good.  Now if we could just confirm that with a medical doctor before you both are completely cheesed, it’ll be swell.”  Medical checks on these two were hard enough without letting Clint or Tony hightail it when injured.  At least Tony was steady on his feet.

“I’m perfectly fine.  Stark is the one who’s freaking out.”  Clint’s grumbles caught Steve’s attention.  He had pretty good hearing and the only sound he was getting from Tony’s bunk was Bruce asking him to quit fidgeting so he could get a blood sample.

Steve pulled back the curtain to see Tony curled up in a rather defensive ball on the bed while Bruce soothed him over the blood draw in a half playful manor while Tony scowled at him fiercely.  The men looked fine, if a bit harassed.

“Tony, will you calm down.  We’ll get out of here in a minute!”  Only Tony could draw that tone out of Bruce.  Steve never worried about a Hulk-out with Tony, because Tony had this uncanny ability to know even better than Bruce what would cause such an event.  Steve frowned as Tony’s eyes skimmed over the entire room repeatedly.  They didn’t even acknowledge Clint and Steve when they entered.

“Enough, I want to be in my workshop.  We can do everything there!”  Tony’s voice was high and slightly hysterical to Steve’s ears.  Steve’s attention was diverted when Clint abruptly pulled away from Steve.

Clint opened Steve’s phone, which he had apparently stolen just now, and dialed as he walked toward the cranky inventor.  “JARVIS, connect to this phone, I’m going to give it to Tony.”

Tony had looked Clint’s direction briefly when he spoke, before returning to avoiding Bruce at every turn.  Clint placed the phone in Tony’s hand directly and moved his lips to Tony’s ear.  Tony actually flinched, which only made Steve’s concern go up a notch, as did Clint’s whisper, “ _The only people in here are Bruce, me and Steve.  The walls are curtains with civilian patients on the other side.  You are on the only bed in the room, there is an IV line, a Doctor’s tray with a blood draw kit next to Bruce, and 2 chairs.  Steve is standing in the doorway 2.3 meters in front of you and 24° to your left.  JARVIS is on the phone.  Take the damn phone, Tony!_ ”

Although Steve had no doubt Clint could report all this information if needed, being a sniper and all, he couldn’t understand why he would.  Clint looked up at Steve a moment.

“We need to regroup in the Tower, Captain.”

Steve felt his spine straighten at that.  Clint almost never called him Captain, even on coms during a mission, unless it was important.  He looked at Bruce and then back at Clint, who nodded.

Blinking, he decided all explanations would be better out of the public ear so he turned to Bruce and said, “Get him ready to transport, I’ll report our change of location.”

Bruce just nodded and started packing up a bag in the corner while Clint kept whispering to Tony.  Steve turned and left the room.  There were 2 dozen people ‘injured’ by the puffs.  So far, Tony and Clint were two of only four awake.  He located the individual who seemed to have the most command of the situation.

The woman huffed at him, but waved him off, requesting any medical results that could help the rest of the group.  Clint was helping Tony help Clint walk out of his room when Steve returned to the team.  Bruce was rolling his eyes and shrugging as the pair headed for the exit.

* * *

Clint held in his groan as they drove past a large shopping center.  His head felt like it was about to explode.  He had thought the medical tent was bad.  Still, focusing on Tony helped a great deal.  He knew better than to announce in an unsecured location that Tony Stark was blind.

Tony’s mental hysteria had helped Clint drag his own minor freak out back in.  Usually Tony was a rock, knew his course and planned out several contingencies.  Hearing him mentally flail was a shock.  Clint knew Steve thought he was weaving because he was still recovering from the powder.  In a way, he was right.  He was trying to deal with the thoughts of more than a dozen people running through his head.  

In a word, sucky!

Clint glanced over to see Tony gasp of relief as they went over the grating into his building.  He had been tracking the car as they drove.  His ability to tell where he was in the city without his eyes was impressive.  His ability to do anything with all the other information going through his head was mind blowing.

While they were riding in the car, Clint was listening to him keep a mental count of the turns and the distance, which he estimated by knowing the type of engine and the pitch of the engine and keeping a running timer in his head.  He knew the type of car by the sound it made starting up, confirmed by Happy being the driver and the feel of the seats.  He also had a mental timer of how long until they arrived at the Tower, adjusted with probabilities on traffic, lights and Happy’s normal driving patterns.

Clint heard the thought at one point that this was all easier when Tony wasn’t talking and trying to distract several kidnappers.  The archer realized that this skill was picked up by a kid who had been a kidnapping target most of his life.  Boy, and he thought his family had done a shitty job of keeping track of him.

The thing was, even through all this information, Tony’s mind had at least three other thought streams going.  He was calculating the density of the gas particle based on diffusion that he saw so he and Bruce could attempt to identify them later.  He was trying to figure out how to pilot the suit blind ( _like hell his team was going to allow that!_ ).  He was trying to remember his SI schedule for the next few days.  He was reviewing which projects he was in the middle of that required sight.  He was trying to figure out how permanent this was and not freak out about how little he knew about that.  And he was holding a conversation with JARVIS on the phone nearly the entire time as JARVIS updated him on the news surrounding the incident and passed on message to and from Pepper, who had likely seen the news and knew Tony had been a victim.

Clint was grateful when they parked in the Tower, even if it meant talking to Steve.  Steve had only been holding off asking him questions because Tony’s lack of chatter worried him.  He wanted the engineer in a safe spot before Tony lost his apparently tenuous grasp on his emotions.

Clint grabbed Tony’s hand as Happy opened the door for them.  Tony’s reaction to that was staggering.  In the medical tent, he had been too off balance to react with anything other than plain gratitude to Clint’s information dump.  The assumption Clint had figured it out because he was just that observant was both flattering and labeled with a 78% chance of being true, before the idea was set to a backburner somewhere.  All Clint heard were the active thoughts.  That was enough for Clint, honestly.

Now that Tony had a better grasp on the blindness and was trying to adapt to processing the world around him, his reactions were a bit more on point.  Specifically, his reaction to Clint helping him out of the car.  

There was some gratitude.  But it was overshadowed by an overwhelming amount of self-recrimination.  Mostly for needing the help, but also partly for liking the help.  Tony was telling himself over and over again to not get used to the help.  Clint could hear him tell himself how much it would hurt when everyone left.   Just like Rhodey and some people named Sunset and Ty.  Tony kept running over ways to not tell Steve because here was another way Tony was useless without the suit.  

Clint gritted his teeth as a memory flitted through Tony’s mind.

“ _Big man in a suit of armor.  Take that off and what are you?”_

_“I know guy with none of that worth ten of you.”_

Seeing Steve from that angle was hard.  Clint hadn’t been around for this fight.  Natasha had mentioned Steve and Tony sniping at each other when Loki’s scepter had fucked with their heads.  No details though.  Jesus, no wonder Steve struggled uphill to try to connect with Tony.  He knew Tony well enough now to know that the billionaire had returned barb for barb.  This explained so much!

They reached the elevator before Tony spoke, “So, I’ll head to the workshop and meet you guys later.  Bruce, let me know what you need.  Okay?  Okay!”

The elevator started moving, but Clint wasn’t quite that slow.  Steve had simply shook his head in exasperation, but Clint knew better than to give in.  He wrapped an arm around Tony’s elbow and when the doors opened on the main floor, Clint pulled Tony out with him.

Tony’s mental conversation was screaming at him to get somewhere, where it was safe to be vulnerable.  Where JARVIS could protect him.  Where no one could see him being weak.

“ _Stark men are made of Iron”_

Clint grimaced, touching his head as that phrase rang loudly, actually overwhelming all of Tony’s other thoughts for a moment.  “Dammit Tony, will you sit down!”

Steve and Bruce stared at him in surprise.  Hearing a whisper, he turned to see Natasha staring at him too.  Tony’s thoughts were so distracting they seemed to eclipse all else.  Bruce’s subtle ongoing mantra of _calm and relaxed, calm and relaxed_ and Natasha’s mental stillness when she was ready for anything easily being drowned out.  Steve’s active attempts to parse out what Tony was doing were louder, though Tony was still overpowering all of them.

At Clint’s outburst, and subsequent shudder, Tony’s thoughts shifted.  Concern over Clint entered his thoughts and he began reviewing the event to attempt to analyze the archer.  He didn’t sit though.

“Tony, let Bruce look at you.  We need to know if it’s permanent.”  Clint’s whine seemed to click with the genius and Tony changed gears dramatically to try to figure out what was wrong with Clint.  

“I’m fine, but if you think I’m going to let you go into your workshop without one of us right now, you don’t know _me_ well enough yet.”  Tony physically withdrew from that statement.  

Steve looked between them as Bruce caught Tony when he stumbled away from Clint.  The sudden lack of contact and decrease in Tony’s voice caught Clint by surprise and he stumbled a bit himself.  Natasha caught him easily and her mind flooded his, though no where near as chaotic as Tony’s, thank goodness.

Nat was more calm, like a river surface, barely broken by a rock.  But he could sense the power there, the dark depths.  Her thoughts were analyzing everyone’s movements since they entered.  Their stances, facial expressions, words, she tried to piece it all together into a solution.  

Her thoughts on Clint were protective and she looked for injuries as she steadied him.  Her care and the magnitude of his presence in her mind was magnificent.  He felt so content and happy to know that as much as she was part of his being, he was part of hers.

Steve spoke first, “Okay, one of you, what is going on?”

Tony grimaced, “What’s the matter, Capsicle?  Never seen a blind engineer before?”  

Steve face went from stern to slack with surprise and concern.  Tony reached out for the table, but Bruce still had his arm, and now knowing why Clint had been helping Tony, he guided Tony to the chair.  Tony ripped his arm out of Bruce’s grip.

“I know my own home!  J?  Are you up to date?”

“Yes Sir.  I will adjust my assistance accordingly with your new sensory input changes.”  

Tony’s gratitude for JARVIS’s unconditional support had Clint feeling a bit small.  That was so much more trust than what the man gave any of his teammates.  Bruce was the most trusted, but even that paled in comparison to JARVIS.

“Hey, Birdbrain, what gave me away?”  Tony’s question was just this side of scathing, but if Clint listened closely, he could hear the thread of panic that his thoughts were betraying.

Clint shook his head, “Nothing to my knowledge.”  He pointed to his forehead, “The effect on me those things are having.  I can hear you.”

They all stared at him in confusion until Tony spoke, his mind racing trying to understand and refusing to believe what was currently running through his mind as a possibility.  “You usually can hear us.”

Clint snorted, “Yeah, you figured it out.  Woah!  Hey, hey!  No, don’t do that!”  Although Steve kept looking between them in confusion, Tony’s panic hit a zenith.  Thoughts about things he had messed up on and the harm he had done flew through his head as breakneck speed.

“ _Not Recommended”_

_“I love peace.  With peace I would be out of a job.”_

_“Should have known a slut like you…”_

_“Why else would I ever want to be near you.  Who would?”_

_“You killed my son!”_

_“You should be able to do better!”_

_“Not right now dear, I’m busy.”_

_“Most famous mass murderer in the history of America”_

_“Your legacy in the hands of these murderers.”_

_“Don’t waste your life.”_

Clint cried out as he knelt down, hands covering his ears, “Tony!”  Natasha kept him from hitting the ground hard as Clint tried everything he could to stop the flow of voices from Tony’s memories.

Abruptly, the flow cut and all Clint felt from Tony was warm and sweet.  He looked up to see Tony focused on the coffee machine.  Bruce was kneeling in front of him.  

“What little of the gas I’ve been able to study has a half life of only a few hours.  This will wear off within the day I assume.”  Clint could barely hear him over the roar in his head of Hulk.  Bruce’s mantra was like a paper fence around the pounding of the anger and frustration that was Hulk.  Hulk’s thoughts were a bit more straightforward.  He wanted to hurt the man who hurt Tony and Clint.  He saw the Avengers as his.  They were there to help Bruce.  They made life better.  He wouldn’t fail to protect again.

Clint jerked back away from Bruce only to land in Steve’s hands.  The soldier was a bit more controlled.  He was focusing at the task at hand, ignoring a white noise of cries.  He heard Steve ask the scientist to one of them explain.  Clint could make out certain voices in the white noise.

_“Why did you leave?”_

_“Don’t be late.”_

_“Punk” “Jerk”_

_“Never forget.”_

_“I’ll show you how, just be there.”_

_“You might need this.”_

_“Whatever you want pal.”_

_“Don’t do anything stupid until I get back”_

_“What do you say Rogers?”_

_“The right partner.”_

_“A good man.”_

_“Not without you”_

_“I’m following him.”_

Steve beat the voices back with concern for Tony and Clint.  Somewhere they were still there in the back on his mind.  Clint blindly wrenched away as he vaguely heard Bruce talk about timetables and Tony theorize on half-lives.  

This time Nat’s hands caught him and Clint relaxed as her gentle wave of calm cradled him.  Under the water of her thoughts were the cries of children and red flooding her ledger, but on the surface, Clint could only feel her concern for Clint, short term and long term after Phil’s death.  She was worried about Tony as the man kept walking about the kitchen as Steve scolded him for trying to keep his blindness a secret.   

Clint let the conversation fall away as he let himself relax against Natasha.  She really was the greatest.

“Clint?  Clint!”  Bruce’s voice eventually roused him.

Tony’s voice cut through the fog better, “Birdbrain, Brucie wants you to check in and not doze off on us.”

Clint struggled from the haze he had been relaxing in, “I’m fine.”  He waved his hands as if to clear the cobwebs.  “I’m fine.  It was just a bit much at first, but now I’m okay.”

“That’s all well and good, but I’d be happier if you could give me some more information about your situation.  Can you hear everything we are thinking?  It looked like it hurt earlier.”

Clint shook his head, burying it further in Natasha’s stomach to avoid Bruce.  “They’re louder when we touch.  Even then, all I get are the surface thoughts.  What you are actively thinking, I think.”  He glanced at Tony, who was half hiding in the kitchen still.  “Sorry to freak you out, Tony.”

Steve was looking between them as he put together what was happening.  Clint sighed, “Easy, Steve.  We’re both fine now.  It was just a lot.”

Steve forehead furrowed as he reviewed everything that happened.  Clint could hear him organizing his thoughts into a battle plan, testing avenues of action, rejecting or modifying them as he went.  It was interesting.  Clint’s own background was in sniper and distractions.  The overall battlefield planning was not really his thing.  Steve’s method of fitting actions together sounded a lot like Tony’s engineering thoughts from earlier.  Clint briefly wondered if the only reason Steve didn’t talk about it is because no one seemed to ask him to explain his thought process.

“Okay, Bruce you are the best bet at trying to figure this out.  What do you need from Tony and Clint?”  Steve’s question brought a protesting whine from Tony, but Clint could feel that it was for show.  Tony even knew what Bruce was going to say before Clint heard Bruce say it aloud.

* * *

After the blood tests and a few brain scans, which freaked Tony out without his sight, they separated.  Clint wanted some time away from all the chaos of other people’s thoughts.  He was learning a lot about his teammates that he hadn’t known.  He had seen pieces, hints of these traits and thoughts, but now he had confirmed them.  He had learned that when Tony babbled, usually it meant he was nervous.  He could misdirect any attention, as long as you ignored his smallest facial twitches.  Bruce was good at reading that.

Listening to Bruce’s running analysis of Tony’s behavior in his mind was educational for Clint.  Especially with how well it lined up with Tony’s mental conversation.  Bruce could read Tony’s face like a book.  What was more interesting was that it didn’t freak Tony out.  The idea that Clint, Natasha or Steve could read Tony seemed to worry the billionaire, but Bruce remained unobtrusive enough to fly under his anxiety radar.  In fact, it helped Bruce in some ways.  By focusing on helping Tony, the large presence in the back of his mind, who was remarkably like the front of his mind, would settle, content that they were helping.  Once this mental thing wore off, Clint would pay more attention to Bruce’s interactions with Tony.

He couldn’t do both right now.  The telepathy was too distracting.  He instead focused on not making his teammates uncomfortable with staring as he separated their thoughts from their actual, spoken questions.  He knew he wasn’t doing a good job when he answered one of Steve’s questions only to have everyone stare at him because that hadn’t been the stated question.

Steve’s thoughts were less chaotic than Tony’s or Bruce, but they were more painful sometimes.  A good chunk of his thoughts were constantly being drained away to deal with the echoes of the past in the back of his mind.  Clint was certain he never wanted to hear someone falling from a train again, but the scream seemed ingrained in parts of Steve consciousness.  It wasn’t all pain though.  Images of a brother and mother flitted about bringing with them a bittersweet joy that Steve used to beat back the other voices when they grew too loud.

All in all, Clint wanted a break before _he_ screamed.

“Want some food?”

Clint had felt Natasha enter the room so he didn’t jump.  Her thoughts were easier.  The surface was crystal clear, her ongoing analysis of safety and strategy suspending over the deceptive river.  A river of her past and her fears for the future.  Much like Steve, she used positive thoughts to quell the tide.  Unlike Steve, Natasha’s thoughts formed around images of him and Phil.  They were not bittersweet as much as comforting and Clint could relax around them.

He looked at her as she set the plate of macaroni next to him.  It was his go-to comfort food.  She turned to leave, wanting him to be a comfortable as she could help him get, but he reached out and grabbed her wrist.

He couldn’t say stay.  She would stay then.  It would feel too much like an order to her.  He did want her to stay though.  Her care for him, her hope for his safety and happiness was a balm for him today.  The relief that he meant something to her had yet to wear off.  

She stayed

She wrapped her arms around his trembling shoulders.  He could hear her questions.  

_Is this helping?_

_Can I really help in this?_

_Do you hear this?_

_Can you hear me?_

Clint just rested his hands on her wrists, burying his head in her embrace as she rested her forehead on his shoulder blade.

_Thank you Clint.  Thank you._

* * *

Steve sighed in exasperation as Tony tried to get all the way to his lab without help.  Granted, with JARVIS, he’d done an impressive job.  His grasp of space and JARVIS’s intuitive understanding of his creator was a powerful combination.  It explained why Iron Man was so agile in the air compared to War Machine.  

He was also glad he had made friends with the AI, because JARVIS wouldn’t have let many people shadow Tony all the way to the workshop and slip in behind him.  He didn’t believe for a moment Tony didn’t know he was there, but the engineer was content to ignore him for the most part.

Steve wandered through the workshop carefully.  He’d only really been down here to talk to Tony, so he hadn’t really taken the time to explore much.  A few beeps caught his attention and he located the bots in their charging stations, except one.  He thought this one was DUMM-E, but he was still learning their names.  He liked the one with the camera the best, U he thought.  They were incredibly expressive for only have a single limb a piece and a language of beeps.  He’d seen their reaction when Tony scolded one of them and he had definitely been chased out by one when Tony was getting fed up with his line of questions about paperwork.

Steve saw a couch in one corner, and he made his way in that direction, especially since it was next to the kitchenette.  He hadn’t seen Tony eat anything since this had happened 4 hours ago.  He kept one eye on the blind sourpuss.  The engineer had been giving even Bruce a hard time.  Usually Tony cooperated for Bruce.  The strange thing was, he didn’t appear to be afraid of Hulk appearing so it was something else.

“I can hear you pondering from here.  Quit it Rogers!”  

That was another thing, he was calling Steve “Rogers”.  Clint’s ability had rattled the billionaire more than the blindness.  That was when he had dropped any and all nicknames for anyone and simply retreated.

“Shall I make us a snack?”  If Tony needed to be grumpy to feel in control at the moment, Steve could give him that.  Even short term, blindness had to be terrifying.

Tony didn’t respond, simply growling as he started placing his hands on his work table and feeling around for different things.  JARVIS assisted him quietly while Steve continued his slow trek to the kitchenette.   He had chosen to take Tony’s response as “in a little bit he’d be receptive to the idea”.  

On the way he saw an album of pictures sitting on one of the bookshelves.  He glanced back, but Tony was thoroughly distracted.  Steve had gathered that Howard was a touchy subject, but he really would like a picture of his old friend without that damn publicity smile he found on the internet.

“Can I see the books?”  

“Please do not remove them from the workshop.”  JARVIS was the one to answer him as Tony did nothing but wave his way.  Steve grabbed the album and seated himself on the couch to look through it.

The pictures were old and the pages creaked, telling of disused.  Many of the early pages were articles about any of the three Starks family members.  Steve skipped over those, most being available online.  He found Howard’s wedding picture.  He had to admit, his friend had picked a hell of a dame.  A few more pictures of the two of them and Steve realized that Howard was never looking at his wife in them.  Occasionally he would be looking at another person, a guest or friend, but never his wife.

He found a picture of a group of people.  He picked out Howard, Peggy, Col. Phillips and several SSR members he could recall.  Some business friends of Howard with the man populated the next few pages, followed by similar pictures of Maria Stark.

He turned the page, looking for family photos, but the first picture he found of Tony spoke of his first circuit, at age 4.  IT was a familiar article.  He’d looked up his friend and devoured all articles pertaining to all three Stark family members.  Tony’s engineering history always astounded him.  

The rest of the book was more of the business side of the Starks.  He tried the only other photo album on the shelf, but it contained pictures of Col Rhodes and Pepper mostly, and not many of them at that.  He was about to give up and assume Tony kept the rest of the pictures in his apartment when a photo stuck in the pages of the last album caught his eye.

It was Peggy.

She was smiling and had her arms around a young boy, maybe eight years old.  He was holding a piece of machinery Steve didn’t recognize.  He realized with some amazement, that the child was Tony.  The kid was smiling so hard, he was almost laughing at the camera as Peggy smashed their cheeks together in a side kiss of some sort for the camera.  Peggy’s smile was likewise full of bright happiness.  They both looked proud of the object in Tony’s hands, whatever it was.  

Steve turned the photo over and on the back he read a note in neat, childish handwriting.  

 

Steve had to smile at Tony writing both of their ages.  A clatter drew his attention back to the genius, and he placed the photo on the open album before finishing his journey to the kitchenette to get him a snack.

A smoothie, and an argument, later Tony was resting on the couch and Steve was sitting nearby, staring at the picture of Peggy.

“I can hear you brooding, Steve.”  Tony’s eyes were shut, but apparently sleep hadn’t caught up with him yet.

“I found a picture in your album.”

Tony snorted, “Its a Photo Album, its full of pictures.”

Steve rolled his eyes, not that Tony could see that, and sighed.  

“I’ll bite, which picture has captured your attention, Cap.”  

At least the food and laying down had improved Tony’s temper.  Now he just sounded this side of desperately exhausted.

“You are supposed to be getting some sleep.”

Tony snorted.  When the engineer didn’t say anything, Steve resigned himself to talking instead.  

“Its a picture of Peggy and you.”

Tony frowned in thought.  “Really?  What are we doing?  Didn’t think there were any pictures of her with me.”

“You’re holding a ‘Integrated Vision Tracking System for Future AI’ in your hands.”

“A what?!?”

“That’s what it says on the back.  You’re 9.”

Tony had turned his head to look at him in confusion, despite the lack of sight, but at that, his face cleared.  He rolled back so he was stretched along the couch.

“I’d forgotten that picture survived.  It was in one of the albums?”  

Steve couldn’t read Tony’s tone.  It had blanked along with his face.  “Yeah, the one with Pepper and Col. Rhodes.”  Tony simply hummed in response.  When it looked like the man wasn’t going to speak, Steve asked a tentative question, “You called her Aunt Peggy?”

“Yeah.”

Steve wanted to ask more.  He wanted to know what she was like in the years he had missed.  Did Tony know about her secret love of cheese and chocolate?  How long had she visited Howard?  What were her children like?  Did she have any grandchildren?  

But, Tony was exhausted and stubbornly refusing to sleep.  Steve didn’t blame him.  Of all activities, sleeping sounded terrifying when blind.  Not only will you have no way to see when you awake, but if you had a nightmare, you couldn’t turn on the light.  Tony’s ability to function without his sight was a tribute to his intellect and resourcefulness.  And to his stubbornness.  But he did need to sleep.

“You know, when we were in Italy, Peggy tried to convince a child to call her Aunt Peggy.”  He waited to see if he had Tony’s interest.  Predictably, the engineer tilted his head in “polite” interest, but his fingers ceased in their fidgeting as he listened.  “The kid kept trying to call her Uncle Peggy.  His english wasn’t very good.  We found him in this little ditch-”

Steve talked for hours about his memories of Peggy.  He spun tale after tale of the bright, powerful young woman he so admired.  The laughter he saw in the picture from both her and Tony displayed a sight he’d not seen before.  Peggy looked so unconcerned, so carefree.  And Tony, he looked so giddy, so bubbly.  Two people who meant a lot to Steve had met and loved each other for the shining light they both shared.  

The next morning, Clint would explain that the telepathy was fading and Tony would be able to see, albeit fuzzily.  By the afternoon, both would be back to normal, or as normal as the Avengers ever were and Bruce would report that the other victims were recovering as well.  Steve was thankful for that.  

He was even more thankful for an evening spent talking about Peggy to Tony.  In the content smile the engineer wore throughout sleeping, Steve thought he saw a hint of the gaiety so apparent in that photo.  

Clint told him at some point that Tony was far more complicated than they all had thought, except maybe Bruce.  Steve noticed Clint’s behavior undergoing a remarkable change towards the billionaire after that.  When he noticed, Steve thought back to that photo he’d left in the photo album in the workshop.

Maybe that bright child wasn’t as lost as he thought.


End file.
